Dons wait on Reo-Coker's fitness before offering him a deal

Nigel Reo-Coker must get up to a suitable fitness level before being offered a contract at MK Dons.

The 33-year-old free agent has been training with Dons this week as Dan Micciche seeks out midfield experience to help his side out of the League 1 relegation battle.

But without a club since the summer, Reo-Coker, who can boast West Ham, Aston Villa and Bolton amongst his former clubs, is lacking the fitness levels the manager demands of his players, and will not be offered a permanent deal until he shows he can reach them.

"Nigel has been with us all week," Micciche confirmed. "We really like him, he brings big game experience - he's won a play-off final, he has played in big Premier League games against the best in the world.

"We've got 12 big games coming up so anyone who can bring that experience on how to manage big games will be crucial to us. He's training with us so we're trying to get him fit enough so when we reach a point we can take him on until the end of the season.

"We want it to work out for us as well as Nigel. He still has a lot of years left in him, but I don't want to rush into anything. He has been great around the younger lads as well."

With plenty of free agents on the market, Micciche admitted he is keeping an eye out on what is available, but believes with the players he has returning from injury in the next few weeks, he may not need to bolster his side any further.

He continued: "We are looking, but now we've got players coming back from injury, I don't want to panic. If I'm going after someone, I want to give them game time but we know we've got Peter Pawlett and Marcus Tavernier coming back any day now, Osman is back and Chuks too.

"Midfield was always the priority after losing Alex Gilbey so unexpectedly. We're checking the list every day but we're not going to bring someone in for the sake of it."